


Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

by Marks



Category: Macdonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Genre: M/M, Telepathy, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2007
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-25
Updated: 2007-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-25 12:52:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/639103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boots can read minds and it sucks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rustler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rustler/gifts).



> It's always fun to work with Bruno and Boots, especially when they're fumbly. I know this premise is weird, but I hope you enjoyed it, Rustler!

The day Boots realized he could read minds was the worst day of his life.

This probably wouldn't have been so bad if he lived in a world where superpowers were common, or even if he could decide whose mind he was reading. It would have been better if Elmer Drimsdale wasn't directly to blame, or even if the specific mind broadcasting to his was anyone else's.

But no. With a head crammed full enough of his own thoughts, it now wasn't only his room that he shared with Bruno Walton. Go on -- _you_ try putting down a duct tape separator down the middle of your brain.

Luck wasn't on Boots O'Neal's side.

*

Elmer was cackling loudly enough that half of Dormitory 3 was gathered around the door, exchanging shifty-eyed glances. The main missing party was Bruno, who would have been curious enough that he would have been in Elmer's room ten minutes earlier. Unfortunately Bruno's glaring absence left it up to the rest of them to pick up the slack.

"You go in," Boots told Sidney Rampulsky and shoved him forward. Sidney shook his head viciously and tripped over the undone laces of his sneakers, falling flat on his face. The resulting concussion was small and only ended up requiring three stitches, an all-time Rampulsky low. Boots looked at Dave Jackson and Myron Blankenship, who both started looking anywhere but him and whistling tunelessly.

"You're all cowards," Boots declared, but all he got was a discontent grumble from the boys assembled. He sighed. "Fine, I'll do it myself."

Boots rapped on the door. Elmer cackled, which might have been an invitation into the room or a sign indicating his complete mental breakdown. Boots took it as the former and shoved his way inside.

"My world is the telepathic world!" Elmer declared, whirling around as his door swung open and splashing Boots with neon green liquid that greatly resembled the insides of the glow stick that Bruno had once broken open and dared Wilbur to drink (Wilbur wisely declined). "Melvin!"

"Don't call me that," Boots muttered, not looking up as he plucked at the wet front of his t-shirt.

"What's going on, pals?" the voice of Bruno Walton asked as Bruno leapt into the fray. Boots looked up.

"Bruno!" Boots said out loud, though what he thought was: _Elmer's craptastic experiment ruined my favorite t-shirt._

Bruno stared at Boots for two beats. _What the hell?_ Bruno asked, but his mouth didn't move.

"No! All my plans for Marylou," Elmer shouted. _His_ mouth definitely moved. They could probably hear him over at Miss Scrimmage's.

*

So. Here were the facts as Boots knew them:

1\. Elmer Drimsdale was a genius.

2\. Elmer Drimsdale, being a genius, was able to chemically induce telepathy in two individuals under the following caveats:

     a. One individual must have had direct physical contact with the chemical compound.

     b. The second individual must have been the first person the first individual sees.

3\. Elmer Drimsdale agreed not to tell anyone -- not even The Fish -- about Boots and Bruno's predicament.

4\. Elmer Drimsdale had not invented the formula to _un_ do these effects yet.

5\. Boots was fucked.

*

See, Boots had known that his intentions toward Bruno weren't entirely pure for a while now. As in over a year a while. And though that made sharing a room with Bruno occasionally awkward, his crush was big enough that being in close quarters to Bruno day after day outweighed that. That all went out the window when he could read Bruno's mind, and vice-versa.

Honestly, it was the vice-versa that worried him more.

Boots started getting used to staring at his feet and internally looping "God Save the Queen" whenever Bruno emerged from the shower dripping wet, after forgetting his towel.

"Be a pal and throw that to me," Bruno would say, and Boots had to estimate where Bruno's hand was and that he most likely wanted a towel and not, say, a map of Prince Edward Island. It was worse than before when he could sneak off to the bathroom after seeing a dripping wet Bruno and jack off. Now he just found himself grateful that Bruno had the habit of using up all the hot water.

Boots _needed_ the cold water, especially because Bruno seemed to _forget_ that Boots was in his head the second Boots stepped into the shower. Because no matter how many boundaries Boots had mentally thrown up to stop Bruno from 'listening in' to Boots resisting close personal time with his own hand, Bruno apparently had no such qualms.

So a lot of the time, Boots would be alone in the bathroom, while Bruno would be alone in the bedroom with only a towel and his hand. Inside his head, Boots sang "O, Canada!" at the top of his lungs.

*

Luckily, there was some relief to be found. Elmer's formula wasn't so strong that the connection held out over great distances. For instance, if Bruno was hanging out in Cathy Burton and Diane Grant's room while Boots was at swim practice, then whatever Bruno was thinking about would soften to a dull buzz at the back of Boots's head. If Bruno thought specifically about Boots from that distance, Boots found it easier to focus on it, but it still took more effort than when they were in the same room or even across the Macdonald Hall campus. Also, Boots wasn't subjected to Bruno's probably disturbing dream life. Instead, if Boots was awake and Bruno asleep, as he typically was through first period, it was more like the static of a radio set between stations.

Meditation helped too. George Wexford-Smyth III, the worst roommate Boots had ever had, but whom occasionally proved himself useful, had recommended his guru to Boots. Boots wrote a letter to his parents, making up some excuse about how clearing his mind would help his studies, and they agreed to pay for meditation sessions. The guru gave Boots some tips on deep breathing and made him bend like a pretzel, but he was mostly good for helping Boots pick out a mantra. Clearing his mind so he could focus on nothing for once even pushed Bruno out.

That is, unless Bruno got bored.

"Om," Boots hummed, legs crossed and eyes closed, seated on one of the mats in the gym. "Om. Om. Om."

 _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_ Bruno boomed inside Boots's head, and Boots jumped a foot in the air, which is really hard to do when in the lotus position.

"OM," Boots hummed louder. He focussed on relaxing his body and emptying his mind. "OM."

 _What did you say about my 'om?_ Bruno asked.

Boots huffed, frustrated. _That didn't even rhyme._

 _Stop being boring, Boots,_ Bruno said. _You wanna stop annoying me with your chanting and come with me to figure out how to get into the teacher's lounge when no one is in there?_

Boots sighed. _Yeah, okay._

Even trapped in his own head, Boots had trouble saying no to Bruno Walton.

*

Even though it made his life miserable, Boots ended up learning to cope with the telepathy as Elmer worked toward a way to reverse the effects. Seriously, that still baffled Boots. Had Elmer expected to create a psychic mindlink with his girlfriend and worry about the details later? Boots and Bruno being unexpected guinea pigs probably saved Elmer's romantic life forever.

Not that that was much of a relief for Boots.

But basically he got used to it. They didn't have to pass notes to each other in class because Bruno could talk to Boots while their teachers were droning on. That made World History go by a lot faster. Boots was sometimes able to talk Bruno out of stupid ideas almost as soon as he had them, like the time Bruno found himself idly wondering if Miss Scrimmage's underpants were big enough to run up the flagpole. For the most part, Boots was able to control his feelings when Bruno's presence loomed a little larger, and all and all it just became their new normal.

Until Boots opened the door to Room 306 and walked in on Bruno and Diane Grant making out on Bruno's bed.

Okay, so _making out_ was probably overstating the action. They were sitting next to each other and their hands were at their sides, but their lips were definitely touching. A liplock.

And seriously? Boots surprised _himself_ by the wave of jealousy that crashed over his whole body. Bruno broke away immediately and stared at Boots with wide-eyes, but Boots was already red-faced and apologising as he stumbled back out of the room.

"Damn it," Boots muttered two minutes later when he somehow found himself outside again, hands jammed deep into the pockets of his windbreaker. "I mean. _Om_." He stayed outside, getting colder and colder in the Ontario-in-November weather, until his legs and arms went numb and he heard Bruno's voice, softer than expected, telling him, 'She's going back home.'

Sometimes Boots really missed having space all to himself.

*

Okay, so Boots might have avoided Bruno the next day the _tiniest_ bit, getting out of bed at the crack of dawn and going to the pool to do laps, even though he had swim practice that afternoon. And _maybe_ he cut English Lit that afternoon because it was the one class Bruno and Boots shared on Thursdays and spent that time near the woods at the far end of the campus. And _maybe_ he spent all of his other classes repeatedly writing his mantra in the margins of his notes, making his hand cramp up. And _maybe_ he went directly from class to the library to swim practice, even though he usually stopped back in the room before swimming. But he'd had a shock. It was perfectly understandable.

What Boots hadn't counted on was Bruno. Though _maybe_ that was a pretty stupid thing to do.

After swimming a trial 500m, Boots hoisted himself out of the pool and found himself staring at Bruno sitting on a bench in front of him. Sudden, totally unexpected arousal curled warm in his stomach, sure as a punch to the gut even though he was still shivering from the combination of pool water and his skin's exposure to air. He'd barely even noticed Bruno was there and this was the reaction he was having?

Horrified and miserable, Boots dove back below the surface and waited for his erection to subside. Bruno was gone when he finally came up for air, not even in his head. That probably meant Bruno had gone to visit _Diane_. Boots scowled to himself until Coach Flynn blew his whistle and yelled at him to pay attention.

*

Bruno dimly reappeared on the outskirts of Boots's mind again when he was showering, just a little bit to let Boots know he was there, though he was jumpy and thinking about maths and baseball a lot more than Boots was used to. The jumpiness only increased as Boots walked back to the dorms, so much so that Boots's curiosity ended up overriding any residual embarrassment over the Bruno-and-Diane incident the night before.

Bruno swung the door open to 306 before Boots even got his hand around the doorknob, and it surprised Boots until he remembered _oh yeah, telepathy._

"Boots, Boots, my best friend in the world," Bruno said, grandly gesturing in formal invitation like Boots wasn't returning to his own room, "you should sit down on the bed and make yourself comfortable."

"What if I don't want to sit on the bed and be comfortable?"

The nervousness from Bruno's head to Boots's only increased. "You want to. Sit," Bruno said.

Boots put down his bags, took off his jacket, and sat.

"All right, now...um, I'm only going to say this once, and then you're going to run away and hate me forever, but please just hear me out."

Boots raised his eyebrows, but he didn't say anything.

"Okay, this mind thing? Is driving me up a wall." Bruno ran his fingers through his dark hair, making it stand on end. "Do you know how hard it is for me to suppress suppress suppress when I'm around you? We're talking less now than ever, even though we can read each other's minds. I'm so sorry that I've been ignoring you."

"Wait --" Boots said, then clamped his mouth shut. He couldn't help thinking _**You** ignoring **me**?_ though and of course Bruno heard.

"Yes, I've been the worst friend ever and I'm sure you hate me, but." Bruno flung himself onto the bed next to Boots. "But I can't go on like this anymore. Boots. _Melvin O'Neal_ , the best friend and roommate anyone has ever had, I like you."

"What the hell, Bruno? I like you, too."

Bruno shook his head, and grabbed Boots's hand, and...oh. "I _like_ you."

Then he leaned over and kissed Boots and it was a hell of a lot more interesting being on this side of Bruno's mouth than watching him kiss Diane Grant. Plus, it was really _weird_ ; with their mindlink, Boots could feel Bruno feeling Boots, and oh God, that could be really handy in other situations. He was about to push that thought aside when he realized that Bruno was thinking it along with him.

 _What about Diane?_ Boots asked from the inside, reaching for Bruno's waist and opening his mouth just a little.

Bruno dragged his top teeth over Boots's bottom lip, making Boots sigh. _She was helping me figure out what I want. She's a good friend,_ Bruno replied, curling his tongue around Boots's and pulling it into his own mouth.

 _So what do you want?_ Boots asked, wrapping his hand around the back of Bruno's neck.

"You," Bruno said out loud and pushed Boots back against the pillows.

*

Five days later, Elmer Drimsdale interrupted The Joys of Gay Sex, Now with Added Telepathy by inventing an antidote. Both Bruno and Boots agreed not to get Elmer in trouble with The Fish and ruin his perfect record, as long as they weren't expected to go on tour with him as famous scientific guinea pigs when he got rich and famous.

The antidote was a complete success, though another of Boots's shirts was ruined in the process. Then Elmer left them alone, and alone in their own heads again, too. Boots thought he'd feel a little lonely, but really, Bruno was still right there next to him in all the important ways.

"But wait," said Bruno, a wicked glint in his eye, "if we let him put us on display, would we be famous, too?"

Boots grabbed Bruno around the wrist, and pushed him up against the back of their door. "Don't even think about it."

END

 


End file.
